Monday 8 September 2025 09:54
Having been restored to the Midlands leagues after a gap of 3 years touring the extremties of western England, Newport were handed their longest trip of the season to kick off their new campaign. Nestled in the depths of the Forest of Dean, Drybrook became the 127th club that Newport will have faced since the league structure began. Having played in the Midlands, South West and Northern regions this could well be a record?
There was a familiar look to the line-up after 3 good wins in pre-season but skipper Ricky Bailey remains sidelined with a calf injury and Matt Hubbart was absent due to falling ill with Covid whilst there were debuts for Tom Clarke (from Sheffield) and David Tuia (from Rossendale) both of whom have moved into the area together with Dan Robinson and Callum Bradbury who are rather more local.
Newport were given the benefit of wind and slope first half and as expected the hosts, on the back of a promotion and undefeated since last November started with a bang and were soon battering away at the Newport line. The defence was good and when offered the chance of easy points Josh Burnett slotted the penalty following a Newport infringement after four minutes.
Elliot Dolphin, who had an excellent game, then wove his way through the home defence on the counter attack and his delicate chip through just ran dead before Billy Dinning could make the touchdown. Good defence at the lineout where Jake Goulson and George Perkins dominated all afternoon forced an attacking scrum twenty metres out. Benny Elliot looked to have scored in the corner but was adjudged to have been driven into touch-in-goal prior to grounding the ball.
Newport then set up camp under the Drybrook posts and despite being awarded repeat penalties they took the scrum option, eventually paying dividends when Mike Adams was driven over, Elliot converting to put the visitors ahead 3 – 7 after twenty-four minutes.
Drybrook were soon back at Newport with hard straight driving play that looked very threatening but when the visitors infringed twice within several minutes Burnett added the points to put Drybrook back in front at 9 – 7 after thirty-one minutes.
Robinson then looked to have got Newport’s second but lost possession whilst stretching to ground the ball. Nevertheless, they maintained the territorial position and when Bradbury took advantage of a Drybrook overthrow at the lineout, it was Goulson’s turn to force his way over, Elliot converting to make it 9 – 14 with half time approaching but the visitors weren’t done yet Elliot tacking on an extra three from a penalty before some hard carries up the middle set up the position for it to be spun left for Dinning to finish off a fine team try. Elliot couldn’t convert this time but Newport led 9 – 22 at the break.
Would a thirteen-point lead be enough with Drybrook having the elements in their favour second half? Would the hosts rue their decision to kick three easy penalties rather than trying to force tries from pressure positions with the Newport defence under the cosh?
The hosts probably needed to score first and early to get back into the contest – they didn’t! It was Newport who were able to carry on the momentum from the latter stages of the first half. The hosts had struggled to cope with the power of Uluaki Kale, Tuia and Bradbury in Newport’s back row so it was no surprise when Kale broke through the Drybrook defence once more and wriggled out of the tackle to score following a good carry from Clark, Elliot converting for a score-line of 9 – 29 with forty-six minutes on the clock.
Tim Waqadau then replaced Robinson and he was immediately into the action. Goulson stole a home line out, Kale carried hard again before slipping the ball to Waqadau, his deft chip through seeing skipper for the day Charlie Gamble gather the ball and outstrip the home cover. Elliot converted and it was 9 – 36 with fifty minutes gone.
Newport were looking firm favourites to go on and score a few more but some weak defence from a scrum let Mitch Baldwin in under the posts with Burnett adding the easy extras to make it 16 – 36. Robinson then returned to replace Dolphin and Chris Taylor joined the foray in place of the impressive Kale.
Disappointingly, Newport appeared to have let their foot off the pedal somewhat and another incident of poor backline defence allowed Brad Morgan to reduce the arrears even further, Burnett’s conversion bringing Drybrook back into contention at 23 – 36 with eighteen minutes left to play. Last season’s Young Player of the Season then replaced Adams, who like the rest of the pack had put in a great shift.
Good pressure from Robinson forced a loose pass which Taylor intercepted forty out and fed Gamble who, like the proverbial slippery eel, escaped tacklers before beating the last man and diving in under the posts in triumphant fashion. 9.9, 9.8, 9.9 from the judges! Elliot adds the extras and Newport lead 23 – 43 before Drybrook hit Newport with a fine counter-attacking try by Harry Appleton, Burnett converting to make it 30 – 43 with just eight minutes remaining.
Drybrook continued to run everything but Newport’s defence held firm and when they were awarded a penalty it was a simple choice to take the three points and open up a three-score advantage at 30 – 46.
Drybrook strove hard for a fourth try that would have given them at least a bonus point as reward for their efforts but when Goulson produced another steal at the line-out Newport put the ball out of play to bring matters to a close.
A thoroughly entertaining match in which both teams performed well but you always felt that Newport held the upper hand and they will be well pleased with a maximum five points to open the season. Things to work on, yes but generally a very good performance.
Bromsgrove, victors over Banbury, visit the Old Showground next Saturday for what is sure to be a tough and mouth-watering encounter. Kick-Off is at 3pm where entry is FREE on production of a Club Membership Card (25/26 version)